Green Moray Eel, West Palm Beach Florida

When diving with a group, I always want to start in the front of the pack.  This way when I see something good to take photos of, I am never losing the group.  I was locked on trying to get a photo of a small sting ray when I saw the group stopping not too far in front of me.  I thought to myself if they are all congregating around one area, it has to be good.  As I approached the area, I was surprised that there were 3 big green moray eels in close proximity of one another.  I tried to get close to two of them but they were not having it.  They would retreat back into the rocks if I got too close.  I kept going because I didn’t want to get left behind.  Then I noticed I was coming up on something that was peeking out of the rocks and other divers were checking it out.  It was just ahead of me.  This would be 4 big green morays on one dive.  This is not typical and was very surprised to see one, yet alone four.  I was able to get very close to this one before he retreated into the rocks.  Some eels will have nothing to do with you and others will have no fear.  I got about 3-6 inches from this one when I took this shot.  Eels get a bad reputation because they are always exposing their teeth but they have to open their mouths to breathe.   They have to orally pump water thru their gills.  This makes them look much more intimidating than what they really are.  Green moray eels make for great photos when they want to be in front of the camera.